WELCOME TO 'THE JUNGLE': The Largest Homeless Camp In Mainland USA Is Right In The Heart Of Silicon Valley

Saturday

Sep 7, 2013 at 3:32 PM

Robert Johnson

This story is a part of Business Insider's "Homeless In Silicon Valley" series reported by Robert Johnson and edited by Chris C. Anderson. Jill Klausen and graphic designer Mike Nudelman contributed to this series.

The Jungle is the largest of many Silicon Valley homeless encampments, and the 65 acres bordering Coyote Creek in San Jose can be home to up to 175 people at a time.

It is the largest homeless encampment in the continental United States.

From kids to convicts to moms and dads and the mentally ill, The Jungle is a desperate mix of people out of whatever options they might have once had.

When Business Insider visited The Jungle over the course of a week in mid-July the city was getting ready to clear the homeless out again after they had just settled back in from a previous eviction.

It's a back-and-forth with no easy answers as Silicon Valley's cost of living increases, but the jobs and affordable housing needed to keep its poorest residents inside and off the streets remains unseen.

Welcome to the Jungle, the largest homeless camp in the Silicon Valley and continental United States.

Business Insider visited The Jungle several times in mid-July to talk to the people who live here and see what their lives are like.

The conditions here are deplorable.

Yet people still live out their daily lives here.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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